htib

Sad but true: Great sound and home theater-in-a-box systems rarely go together.

HTIBs are the province of "good enough" performance and features, but I'm totally jazzed about these two exceptional models: Samsung's HT-BD1250 and Onkyo's HT-S9100THX.

Looking at the Samsung HT-BD1250 Blu-ray Home Theater System ($550 MSRP) it doesn't exactly stand out in a field of black plastic HTIBs. But once I listened to the thing I knew Samsung had a real winner.

The HT-BD1250 sounds great on music and movies, with remarkably good clarity, bass extension/definition, and low overall distortion. Even high-impact, special-effects driven flicks didn't betray the wee speakers and subwoofer weaknesses. Sure, play a Blu-ray really loud or try to fill a very large room and the HT-BD1250 will cry uncle. But in average size rooms, the HT-BD1250 should satisfy most home theater fans.

Rocking out with the Rolling Stones "Shine A Light" Blu-ray the band's punch and impact came through like gangbusters. The HT-BD1250 sounds noticeably less dynamically compressed than HTIBs with similarly sized speakers and subwoofers.

Few HTIBs of any size can sound credible with solo piano CDs, but the HT-BD1250 truly shined with Joel Fan's excellent "West of the Sun" release. The naturalness of piano tone was striking, and even the lower register keys had just the right weight. I credit that to the HT-BD1250's subwoofer, its refined sound perfectly matched the satellites. The sats kept up their part of the bargain, delivering effortless midrange and treble resolution.

Read the full CNET review of the Onkyo HT-BD1250 to learn more.… Read more

When Blu-ray HTIBs first hit the market, they really didn't make sense as a product type. They were slow, and the value just wasn't there, as it was easy to put together superior systems from separate components.

One year later, everything has changed; there are several excellent HTIBs with integrated Blu-ray available for prices comparable to those of standalone Blu-ray players. The LG LHB953 is one of the better systems on the market, and a lot of that is due to its unparalleled streaming content options--Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and CinemaNow augment its disc-playing capabilities. It also handles the … Read more

DVD home-theater-in-box systems seem to offer a lot of value from the spec sheet, but are often seriously disappointing in use, with lackluster audio and video being the norm.

So far, our experience with Blu-ray HTIBs has been the exact opposite; almost all of the systems we've tested this year offer a legitimate home theater experience. The Samsung HT-BD1250 (street price as low as $500) is the best budget system we've seen.

We were fully expecting lifeless sound after our review of the Samsung HT-AS730, but the HT-BD1250 proved our prejudice wrong, offering credible sound quality even with … Read more

Although the technology debuted in 2006, for many consumers Blu-ray still feels like brand-new tech. That's why home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems like the Panasonic SC-BT200 and SC-BT300 feel like such an incredible deal--with a street price as low as $450 for the SC-BT200, you get a 7.1 speaker system plus a slimline AV receiver with an integrated Blu-ray player.

The biggest knock against both of the systems we reviewed is that that competing HTIBs offer better streaming media options; both the Samsung HT-BD1250T and LG LHB953 have both Netflix and Pandora streaming, which we prefer to the Panasonic's … Read more

Onkyo's home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems tend to be everything HTIBs usually aren't: big, boxy, and they actually sound pretty good. Today the company rolled out two new 7.1 HTIBs, HT-S7200 and HT-S6200, which are step-ups to the existing HT-S5200 and HT-S3200 (full review).

Onkyo's new HTIBs have several upgrades, but the first thing we noticed is that the systems aren't stuck with the same "pass-through-only" HDMI inputs that plagued the step-down HT-S3200 and HT-S5200. Both the HT-S7200 and HT-S6200 can accept audio over HDMI (you don't need to run separate cables like on … Read more

Now that Blu-ray players are officially a $100 commodity, it's no surprise manufacturers are trying to cram the technology into home theater systems at the lowest price possible. Sony's BDV-E500W ($800) takes a decidedly more high-end approach, offering Blu-ray playback in a 5.1 home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system, with step-ups like tall-boy front speakers and wireless rear speakers. Like many Sony products, the BDV-E500W exudes style, from the glossy black speakers to the glass-like front panel of the main receiver unit.

On the other hand, we were surprised by some of the BDV-E500W's shortcomings, especially the lack of … Read more

Samsung already offers a pair of Blu-ray home theaters systems (the HT-BD7200 and HT-BD1250T), and the company is planning to add a third option in August, the HT-BD3252. While most Blu-ray home theater systems available from LG, Panasonic, and even Samsung, are aimed at offering Blu-ray home theater at the lowest price possible, the HT-BD3252 will carry an $800 price tag, pushing it out of the "budget" category.

The HT-BD3252 costs $250 more than the step-down Samsung HT-BD1250T, and it has a couple of important upgrades to justify the price. The most obvious difference is that the BD3252 … Read more

Great-sounding home theater is becoming increasingly rare, as consumers move toward space-saving solutions like soundbars and tiny home-theater-in-a-box systems (HTIBs). If you still care about sound, have a budget around $1,000, and want the convenience of an all-in-one package, the choice largely comes down to two systems: the Onkyo HT-S9100THX ($1,100 list price) and the Yamaha YHT-791BL ($800, the subject of this review).

The two systems are very similar: you get a component-grade AV receiver with four HDMI inputs, plus a big, boxy 7.1 speaker system that delivers better sonics than the rest of the HTIBs on … Read more

Home-theater-in-a-box systems have been around forever, but the latest marketing angle is the "Blu-ray-ready HTIB." The new phrase simply means that the system consists of a surround-sound-speaker system and an AV receiver, so you only need to add a Blu-ray player to complete your home theater.

The Sony HT-SS360 is an entry-level Blu-ray-ready HTIB, complete with a decor-friendly (read: small) 5.1 speaker system and an AV receiver with three HDMI inputs. That's enough HDMI ports to handle most home theaters, but the HT-SS360 doesn't have any analog video ports, which is an annoyance for … Read more